Improvement in manufacture of match-sticks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

S. O. ELLIS, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURE OF MATCH-STICKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,027, dated September22, 1863.

To all whom, it may concern,.-

Be it it known that I, S. O. ELLIS, of Jersey City, in the county ofHudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in the Manufacture of Match- Sticks; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l represents a longitudinal verticalsection of my invention, thc plane of section being indicated by theline x Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the cutters detached,showing their position in relation to each other. Fig. 3 is a plan ortop view of the card. Fig. et is a side elevation of a matchstick madeaccording to my invention.

Similar letters of reference in the several views indicatecorresponding` parts.

The object of this invention is to produce match-sticks, the transversesection of which presents the shape of a circle, square, or any otherdesirable form, of wood without splitting or shaving, and withoutreference to the direction in which the grain of the wood runs, by theaction of rotary cutters acting upon the wood at dierent points, and insuch a manner that by the action of said cutters the grain is crowdeddown in raising the shaving and thereby the toughness of the sticks isimproved and the surface of each stick is rendered even and smoothwithout reference to the direction in which the grain of the wood runsand perfectly parallel from end to end.

To enable those skilled in the artto make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

The cutters A A, which I use for the purpose of producingmymatch-sticks, are made of segmental pieces of steel, each provided witha series of V-shaped ridges, a a', as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of thedrawings. The points of these ridges project beyond the edges of thecutters, and the position of these ridges in relation to each other issuch that when the cutters are placed in line, one opposite the other,as shown in Fig. 2, the ridges a of the cutter A are between the ridgesa of the cutter A. The cutters are secured in a rotary cylinder of ironor any other suitable material, one opposite the other, as shown in Fig.l,

and in such a position that the planes passing through the ridges of onecutter are parallel with and between the planes passing through theridges of the opposite cutter. The points of the ridges project beyondthe circumference of the cylinder, so that they act on a piece of' woodor card, B, passing under the cutters in a direction opposite to that inwhich the cylinder rotates.

The points t of the cutter A produce the notches a* in the card, (seefigure,) and the points a ot' the cutter A produce the notches ai. Thesenotches do not pass clear through the thickness of the card, and inorder to complete the match-sticks the card has to be turned over, sothat the cutters act on it from the opposite side, or two sets ofcutters have to be made to act on the card simultaneously, one fromabove and the other from below. The match-sticks thus produced areeither round or square or of any other desirable form according to theshape of the cutters. In all cases, however, the action of the cutterson the wood is such that the same in raising the shaving crowd the graindown, and the toughness of the sticks produced surpasses considerablythat of sticks produced by ordinary means. The rotary cutters act on thewood independent of the direction in which the grain runs, and thesurface of the sticks is rendered smooth and even. In this respect mymatch-sticks are essentially different from and superior to thoseproduced in the ordinary manner, either by splitting or shaving. Thoseproduced by splitting can only be made of choice pieces of wood, andtheir surface is rough and uneven, and those produced by shaving or byreciprocating cutters become weak and brittle whenever the direction ofthe grain differs somewhat from the direction in which the cutter moves.By such cutters the grain is raised and small pieces of wood are liableto come off of the surface of the sticks rendering the same rough anduneven; and, furthermore, the splints coming oft' from the sticks, dropinto the composition and cause much trouble and unnecessary labor indipping.

Sticks made in the ordinary way arc irregular in thickness, some thickerthan thc others, or the same stick thicker in one place than in theother, according to the direction of the grain, and this irregularity inthe thickness renders it very difficult to faste 11 the same in what Iclaim as new7 and desire to secure by the dipping-frames. On turning theframe up Letters Patent, sthe sticks are liable to slip and some dropout The employment 0r use of rotary cutters entirely, causing much lossot' time. Mysticks A Af, substantially such as herein specified, are ofa. uniform thickness throughout, and for the purpose of producingmatch-sticks. can be fastened in the frames With the greatestllitnesses: S. C. ELLIS. ease and perfectly secure. M. S. PARTRIDGE,

Having thus fully described my invention, i DANIEL ROBERTSON.

